1 courtesy of MySpace
Band of the Month: Tea Cozies
The Seattle quartet makes ‘gargadelic janglepop’
By Daniela Garcia
Published: April 2nd, 2008 | 11:20am
WHO IT IS
Vocalist-guitarist Jessi Reed, vocalist-guitarist-keyboardist Brady Harvey, bassist Jeff Anderson, and drummer Kelly Viergutz
LOCATION
Seattle, Washington
FILE UNDER
A jumbling swirl of jangly Britpop, indie, ’60s psychedelic, and garage rock.
IN A NUTSHELL
The humble beginnings of the Tea Cozies began when Jessi Reed and Brady Harvey met in 1999 while attending high school in Fort Collins, Colorado. Even though they ended up at different colleges (Reed at Colorado University and Harvey at the University of Northern Colorado), the girls still found time to meet up and jam to Elastica songs. They went through a slew of drummers before finding former high school classmate and drummer Kelly Viergutz, courtesy of a want ad at a local record store. As a trio, they managed to play only one show on New Years Eve 2003 at what was suspected to be a haunted condo. The current lineup only became complete after all three ladies made their way to Seattle. There, they met bassist Jeff Anderson at a party and asked him to join on Halloween, according to Reed, “partially due to his impressive land shark costume.”
For those who may be wondering: a tea cozy is a cutely decorated cloth cover for teapots that helps keep tea warm, more often seen in the U.K. So the choice to name themselves “tea cozies” actually aligns well with the band’s Brit-based sound but mostly stems from their desire to call themselves something that would most likely appeal to “knitters and British grandmothers.” And much like their namesake, the band is to the indie scene what tea cozies are in the U.S.: obscure and unknown, yet still appreciated by a chosen few. “You’d be surprised how many people don’t know what tea cozies are,” Viergutz says. “Our bass player still doesn’t.”
The band calls its sound “gargadelic janglepop,” which involves sampling well-known genres and mixing the sounds into something new. The band’s primary influences are David Bowie, Justine Frishmann, Ray Davies, Michel Gondry, Prince, the Beatles, Morrissey, and Kim Deal, all chosen not only for their musical prowess but also due the band’s personal belief that they’re all “aliens.”
Songs like “Loxo” and “Stir the Cup,” from their 2006 self-titled EP, are a testament to their sound: catchy guitar jams mixed with upbeat pop that you can shimmy and shake to while the girls wail and croon. Others like “Tranciting” stick to the same beat, only with a noticeably grittier, underground sound. One of their newer singles, “Pretty Pages” is comprised of jingly sounds (including a tambourine) played along with fast-paced pop.
With their fun, danceable beats, you would think the Tea Cozies are all about energy at their shows. And they are — if there’s enough room. Harvey reminisces about one show in which the band was packed into the corner of a small café. There was so little space that if they moved around, they would hit each other with instruments or accidentally turn off their power strip and unplug half of their equipment. “It was ridiculous,” Harvey says. “Then a drunk woman took off her shirt and danced in a swimming suit for the rest of our set; it made us feel better.”
Lyric writing is mainly left in the hands of Reed and Harvey, who also share vocal duties. Reed is known for translating her lyrics into various languages and back to English through Babelfish. Harvey likes to mix together phrases and double meanings until they become long chains of words. On top, they’ll throw in fun words to shout and melodic chants. Other songs are the products of jam sessions played repetitively to the point where it’s either permanently stuck in their heads or something they never want to hear again. “We all have little handheld recording devices at our side during practice,” Reed says. “When we play something really bitchin’, we’ll each record it. We have tapes and tapes of those. It’s like an archive of thoughts and silliness.”
GOALS
The band will tour the West Coast in May 2008 and will be joined with fellow Seattleites Daguerreotypes and the Little Penguins. Tea Cozies are working on songs for a new album and says its mission statement is to “keep making music until the apocalypse hits.”
MORE INFO
Tea Cozies Web site
Tea Cozies MySpace
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Tea Cozies are Venus Zine's "Band of the Month" for April 2008. Visit Venus Zine’s Sonic Bids page to submit your profile for coverage consideration.
Issue #35
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